Two strand knitting question

I don't think so. I'm currently knitting Stephen West's Garter Squish blanket as a stash buster. Two strands of DK on 10mm needles. I'm knitting straight from the balls. So long as you keep the strands held smoothly together as you knit it should be OK.

The only exception I can see is if the two strands are of different yarn with one that catches or stretches more in which case prepping a double stranded ball could be a good idea.

I have never done anything other than use straight from the ball.

What is a 'stash buster* FP?

I could do with a stash buster - using double yarn sounds like a much quicker way than knitting endless squares!

Apparently It’s a great project for mindless knitting
just what I need after the nativity set!

file:///C:/Users/patri/AppData/Local/Packages/Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe/TempState/Downloads/garter_squish_a4%20(1).pdf

It's on Ravelry

Thank you, FP!

And nonnie!

I just realised that I didn't answer the question

No, I don't wind them together, just knit from two balls. In fact, I think winding them together could make the knitting loopy if you're not careful.

Thanks! Another day when I have learned something on GN.

A stash buster is a project which uses up of a lot of your stored yarn and boy do I have a lot!

The pattern for the Garter Squish blanket is free on Ravelry. It's a very easy knit and perfect for this time of year as once it's grow a bit you can sit under it and keep warm while you knit!

Use DK or worsted weight yarn held double and a size 10mm 32 inch circular needle to knit back and forth on. That big needle makes it very squishy.

Cast on 126 sts and knit to last three stitches which you slip with yarn forward. Repeat until required length. The slipped stitches form a loose i-cord edge. That number of stitches should give a blanket 48 inches wide.

Stephen suggests a loose cast off. K2tog tbl, slip stitch back to left needle) to end of row.

You can use two strands of the same colour or, to get a more marled effect, two different colours. I'm pairing a brighter colour with a neutral and working blocks of 15 or 20 ridges (30 or 40 rows) before changing colour.

Fewer stitches but the same technique would create lovely thick, warm scarves.

I've used two strands for a Debbie Bliss baby blanket - I just used them as I would for one strand, except that there were 2, IYSWIM.
And for the lesser used colours, I had to unwind a whole ball and rewind into 2, to save buying 2 and wasting half.

Only other thing with that one - squares of different colours - was that there were twice as many pesky ends to sew/weave in later.

Witzend. I'm also making another Stephen West stashbuster - a Penguono jacket (also on Ravelry) where the sizing is achieved through the thickness of the yarn.

1 strand chunky weight or
1 strand worsted weight + 1 strand fingering
or lace weight or
2 strands DK weight or
3 strands fingering weight or
1 strand DK weight + 2 strands fingering or
lace weight

I'm also winding a whole ball into smaller balls for economy.

It's an interesting construction which can be made as conservative or as wacky as you like. Some of the best examples I've seen use fashion textured yarns from yesteryear - eyelash yarn for example.

knit to last three stitches which you slip with yarn forward.

That's the bit I didn't get sl3 wyif - I can see how to do that but what happens when you come back on the next row - does it form a kind of loop?
I haven't tried it yet.

FountainPen some of those weights would have to be translated - what is 'fingering' please?

In the 60s I knitted a dress using 6 strands of DK yarn together. I cannot remember the specific size of the needles, only that they were something approaching an inch in diameter. I knitted the dress in an evening, tried it on, and it was so hideous I immediately unravelled it all. Now THAT was a challenge, rewinding 6 individual balls of wall as the knitting unravelled 😩
It was bright orange, nylon yarn. What was I thinking? 🙄😂

It sounds delightful

I'm laughing until I'm choking Bathsheba

ps orange was very fashionable!
We had orange and brown wallpaper in the 60s!

If you have a 'stash' of left-over yarn, which you are unlikely to need, why not knit blankets for animal rescue centres..dogs and cats are always in need of fresh blankets. Cats protection will even take the balls of yarn so that their members can knit blankets.

We had orange and brown wallpaper in the 60s
Haha, in the 70s we painted our living room gold with one ‘accent’ wall in brown. And we painted our white wood kitchen cupboards orange. Oh my days!!!

Jalima Knitting the slipped stitches on the next row creates an i-cord edge. Mine looks like this.

Fingering is a sock weight yarn suitable for shawls, lacework and stranded colourwork too, items that you would usually work on 3.5mm needles or smaller.

Bathsheba

A few years ago there was a trend for extreme knitting on giant needles. I foolishly offered to demo it at a craft show for a friend whose woodturner husband made the needles. All I got was wrist ache!

Rachel Johns of Extreme Textile broke records by kniting with 1000 strands simultaneously. I love watching the yarn being prepped in this video but the actual knitting looks very hard work.

bit.ly/2RAmvdG

PS Bathsheba I remember the orange and brown decor that was popular in the 70s. DH and I decorated our first flat in those colours. I still have the orange Brentwood Nylons bedsheets that someone gave us as a wedding present. Hard to believe we used to sleep on them. Oh, the static!

They now live in the garden shed and come in useful for all kinds of messy outdoor tasks. Short of setting fire to them, I think they must be indestructible.

Goodness me FountainPen, that extreme knitting is, well.... just a bit too extreme!!! Rachel Johns must have been exhausted after that, but I have to say the result looked gorgeous.
I wish I could remember the name of the knitting needles I used in the 60s - they were a huge fad at the time, and there were lots of patterns for them. They were called 'something' pins, and I'm sure the 'something' began with a T, but I just can't recall it.
And oh yes, the nylon sheets! I used to wear brushed nylon nighties in those days - I can only imagine the resulting static if I'd also slept in nylon sheets

What a lovely read. It’s ages since I’ve done some knitting but used to knit for a wool shop in the 80s being paid 1 penny a gram !!!!

My mum had Orange and Brown tea pot paper on the kitchen wall 😅

I might have to get the needles out again.

There is a picture somewhere of a knitted fence bordering a garden. Very lacy and lovely using some kind of string, I think.